


Happy

by FactoryKat



Series: The Mages' Champion and the Healer's Hope - The Wyatt Hawke Collection [3]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Banter, Blue-Purple Hawke, Brief Isabela (Dragon Age), Brief Merrill (Dragon Age), Custom Hawke, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Happy Anders (Dragon Age), M/M, Romance, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 12:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17767064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FactoryKat/pseuds/FactoryKat
Summary: When Merrill asks Anders if he's happy.





	Happy

**Author's Note:**

> Built around actual lines from the in-game party banter.

The four of them had stopped walking, coming to a slow pause in front of a small group of locals, just beyond the now-empty Qunari compound. Isabela’s hands were lively with gestures and Hawke leisurely settled against the stone building beside her as they engaged in a rousing discussion about, well, who knows what. Anders took this respite from walking the span of Kirkwall to breathe and stretch his tired limbs. He’d fallen asleep at the desk again last night after finally succumbing to his persistent exhaustion.

There was only a vague recollection of Hawke slipping in hours later, after accompanying Aveline on a patrol, and rousing him from his awkward doze, insisting he come to bed. He acquiesced of course, but there wound up being more chatting than sleeping. While pleasant as it was to have a partner such as Wyatt Hawke, fellow mage, gracious lover and an avid listener when it came to the usual discourse over their people, he found himself in some regret for letting it progress as long as it had.

Hawke had turned to avoid the harsh glare of the steadily setting sun, the angle of his body now a benefit to the staring healer. With the glow behind Wyatt, his newly shorn red mane caught the light reflecting off the water’s surface. For that moment, he was like an avatar of the very flames he commanded under his power and Anders was left with a quiet awe as he leaned his weary self against an adjacent building.

“Are you happy?”

Merrill’s question went unheard at first. Anders caught himself nodding off briefly somewhere between staring at Hawke or out at the harbor while propped against the side of a warehouse.

“Are you happy?” She asked again, craning her neck to steal a glimpse at him with wide, mossy green eyes that were almost too big for her face. Merrill could be considered cute, pleasing to the eye for some, her elfin features were a curious contradiction, both angular and yet soft. She had an innocence to her, a naivety to the world outside of her clan and the Dalish culture as a whole, but despite his varied tastes, she wasn’t to Anders’ fancy.

“Beg your pardon?” 

“He seems happy! Hawke, I mean. Are you?”

He looked at the elf quizzically, wondering what brought on this question. Was it a carefully restrained jealousy, or was she simply just that sweet to be concerned over her the wellbeing? Even in spite of their sometimes tumultuous relationship? 

"I- yes, I suppose I am.” 

Anders cast a sidelong glance at Hawke again, letting his eyes rest on him as the ambience along the docks carried away his words. They were all but drowned out by the cacophony of voices, from the clattering of moving cargo, the hum of conversation among the crew and deckhands or the barking orders of the harbor master. Merrill’s long, tapered ears twitched every so often with each distraction but she'd clearly heard him judging by the saccharine smile plastered on her face.

“Good.” She finally said after what felt like an hour of silence and palming a very poorly wrapped ball of twine. “You’ve spent far too much time being grumpy.” 

Spoken like someone who would still smile and apologize to the plants as she stepped on a thorny bush, Anders thought. Still, he considered what she said. Was the word happy even enough to properly explain why he felt just a little more at peace each day that he woke not on a hard cot, but in a comfortable bed, limbs tangled together and sheets discarded somewhere throughout the night? His subconscious mind still whispered doom and disaster, in the late hours when his body strained against the desire to stop and allow him rest, when his mind wandered and he had far too much time to think.

He, however, certainly did have a poor track record with romance for all of his youthful bravado some years ago, but not for any lack of trying.

“Copper for your thoughts?” 

Hawke’s voice coaxed him out of deep thought and Anders realized he had concluded his business with Isabela and had approached him with a query in those studious blue eyes and a playful grin on his lips. It figures that he would be in pleasant spirits, despite how little _sleeping_ they had done last night.

“Really? My thoughts are worth at _least_ a sovereign.” Anders was happy to play their usual game, the careful path they tread in public.

Hawke laughed, his voice full of warmth that cloaked them both in a familiar comfort. “Well, they must be very important! Don’t suppose we should head back to the estate and have a serious discussion about it then?” 

In all his usual good-humored and affectionate glory, he slung an arm around Anders’ narrower shoulders, drawing him inward. It was an action that could be interpreted as little more than an endearing and friendly gesture among comrades in arms, if only for those uninitiated to the true intimacy behind it, but their companions were all keenly aware of their status. Yes, they had _both_ earned a varying assortment of lectures and questions from lot of them already but Hawke had set them all straight.

Isabela saddled up beside Merrill, who was watching the retreating backs of her friends curiously. With a knowing glance cast at the two lovebirds and a glint in her eye she smiled, amused. “Woukd you look at those two. Come on Kitten, let’s go.”

The four of them departed, two heading off in one direction while Isabela nudged Merrill, making a detour toward Lowtown without either Hawke or Anders realizing they were alone. Not that she figured they would mind after all...


End file.
